Family Dinner Key to Healthier Eating for Most Americans

Dec 6, 2006

Most Food Shoppers Believe Food Prepared at Home Is HealthierOrganic Purchasing Still Growing

ARLINGTON, VA — December 6, 2006 — Americans are gathering around the dinner table to eat healthier foods, according to a new national survey released here today by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Prevention magazine. The study found a strong correlation between consumers who try the hardest to eat healthfully and those who eat dinner at home nearly every day.

Nearly three in four shoppers (71%) believe the food they eat at home is healthier than meals consumed out. More than nine in 10 consumers prepare at least one home-cooked dinner from scratch every week, and more than half (68%) do it almost daily.

This home-equals-health belief extends to school lunches. Parents are far more satisfied with the nutritional value of the bagged lunches they prepare at home for their children (60%) vs. school cafeteria food (30%).

"These findings underscore the powerful impact of the family dinner," said FMI President and CEO Tim Hammonds. "Regular family dinners are the best way parents can help their children eat healthy meals. These dinners also help children perform well in school and avoid abusing alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs, according to research by Columbia University."

"The study shows most Americans recognize the importance of eating healthier and are laying the foundation to do so: eating at home, buying organic and making healthier choices," said Cary Silvers, director of consumer and advertising trends for Rodale, the publisher of Prevention. "But Americans are still having trouble doing this. Supermarkets have a real opportunity to offer and package solutions rather than just display products."

Shoppers Seek More Healthy Choices

Relatively few shoppers believe that grocery stores offer “many” healthy options in frozen entrees (16%), packaged foods (8%), or even ready-to-cook (10%) and prepared foods (12%). Even fewer feel this way about healthy options from fast-food (5%) and other take-out establishments (6%).

Americans Strive and Struggle to Eat RightThe report also found that Americans continue to strive and struggle to eat more nutritious diets: 57% are trying "a lot," 55% say they are overweight, and 23% of parents report having an overweight child.

Consumers tend to be "free agents," trying to manage diets on their own, which makes them more susceptible to fads, according to the study. Among those who diet, 59% say they are just "calorie watching or watching what they eat," 11% follow a low-carb diet, and 9% follow the Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers program.

The chief motivation to buy organic foods remains the perceived nutrition value, cited by eight in 10 shoppers, and nearly two-thirds mentioned long-term health effects. Just over half listed the environmental impact of growing or producing these foods.

This Shopping for Health 2006: Making Healthy Eating Easier survey is the 15th in a series of annual surveys of America’s supermarket shoppers conducted by FMI and Rodale Inc.’s Prevention magazine with support from Men’s Health and Women’s Health magazines. The survey examines shoppers’ interests and attitudes regarding health and nutrition, their efforts to manage diets, and the ways in which health and nutritional concerns play out in buying decisions at the supermarket.

MethodologyThis report is based on a national telephone survey of more than 1,000 adults conducted July 2006. All respondents had primary or equally shared responsibility for their household’s grocery shopping.

To purchase Shopping for Health 2006: Making Healthy Eating Easier, visit the FMI Store or call (202) 220-0723. Survey reports are free to the press.